Rivera vs. Rooney: A Game Where Nobody Wins

So let me ask; what do you think when you hear that the defensive coordinator of one of the top 4-3 defenses in the NFL interviews for the head coaching vacancy for a team with millions of dollars in cap space committed to players hand-picked to play in a 3-4 defense? What do you think when it happens twice in a month to the same man? Are the aforementioned 3-4 defense teams looking to change course in midstream, and attempting to change their roster and philosophy to the 4-3? Probably not, considering the fact that the first team hired a different defensive coordinator to be their head coach, one that ran the 3-4. So why has this 4-3 coordinator, who logically would seem not to have any chance whatsoever to win the head coaching position of the 3-4 teams, been interviewed for the positions? The answer is a little thing called the Rooney Rule, and it is acting as a disservice to the coordinator in question, Ron Rivera.

The Rooney rule was designed in order to promote the hiring of minority head coaches in the NFL. It stipulates that every NFL team must interview at least one minority head coaching candidate for a head coaching vacancy, or otherwise face fines. Do not get me wrong; I think that in spirit this rule is a very good one, as it is foolish to ignore the discrepancy in the NFL between the number of minority coaches and the number of minority players. It just doesn't add up. The dark side of this rule however, has manifested itself this off-season, as Ron Rivera has conducted a number of head coaching interviews. Ron Rivera is an excellent football coach, and has run one of the best defenses in the NFL in recent years. He is a more than amply qualified head coaching candidate, of that there is no dispute. What does seem strange however, is why two teams, the Cowboys and the Chargers, that seemingly have no use for Rivera and his 4-3 principles, would interview him anyway. This is where the Rooney Rule fails, when a man like Ron Rivera makes the circuit of head coaching interviews merely to fill a spot. It is disservice to both the man and the integrity of the league.

First, it is necessary to understand the fundamental differences between the 4-3, and the 3-4 that the Chargers and Cowboys have been running in order to see that Rivera has no chance when interviewing with these teams. The 4-3 depends upon having four down linemen, whose main task is to occupy the offensive linemen in order for the linebackers behind them to make plays, as well as to play either one or two gap responsibility. (i.e. They are responsible for anything coming through their respective gaps) On a pass the speedy defensive ends are mainly responsible for pass pressure, with the defensive tackles bull-rushing up the middle. Linebackers in this scheme have to be quick on the outside, in order to run down any sweeps off tackle. The main difference between the concept of the 4-3 and the 3-4 lies with playmaking responsibility. In a 4-3 pass pressure comes from the defensive line, and they are also expected to make a large number of tackles stopping the run. In a 3-4 however, the lone nose tackle and the defensive ends main responsibility is to take up as many blockers as possible in order to free up the linebackers to make most of the tackles against the run and provide most of the pressure on pass plays. The true success of the modern 3-4 however, lies in the ability of the defensive coordinator to disguise what his defense is doing pre-snap. One of the major prerequisites to effectively deceiving a defense is having outside linebackers that are fast and strong enough to drop into zone coverage, speed rush the QB, and play the run as a down lineman on any given play. Think Shawne Merriman. Think DeMarcus Ware. Don't think Lance Briggs.

To further show the philosophical difference in defenses, take for example the number of sacks by the linebacking corps of the three teams in question. Rivera's 4-3 defense generated one sack from the linebacker position for the entire season. One. The Cowboys, led by prototypical 3-4 linebacker DeMarcus Ware, had 20.5 sacks from their linebackers. The Chargers had 42.5. To state the obvious, Rivera does not run the type of defense that would fully realize the potential of players like Ware and Merriman. To state something even more obvious, Merriman and Ware are not going anywhere anytime soon. So it begs the question; Did Rivera ever really have a chance to get either of those two head coaching jobs? Or were they merely interviews motivated by courtesy and the Rooney Rule?

The Cowboys job went to Wade Phillips, a defensive coordinator that ran a 3-4, and the Chargers job has just gone to Norv Turner, an offensive coordinator with a reputation for molding quarterbacks. And who might you ask, have the Chargers tagged as their next defensive coordinator? Ted Cottrell who coincidentally is known for running a, you guessed it, 3-4 defense. Hopefully next off-season Rivera will be able to get interviews for jobs that he actually has a fair chance to win, instead of wasting his time due to Rooney Rule interviews.